Another Side, Another Heart
by Karo Lunel
Summary: This story takes place in an alternate universe to Kingdom Hearts, and involves a girl named Laura who goes on a fabulous adventure that has nothing to do with Disney!
1. Prelude to the Light

There isn't much time…the world is starting to break up already…

I think that…

But maybe my suspicions are wrong…but something is going to…

You're our only hope to…

Please hurry before…

…………………………………………………………………………………………………….

So much to do, so little time…

All will be revealed shortly…

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Now…Let's get to business…

As this would be revealed in time…

Do you know where you are? No?

You will see…

When the door opens…

…

To the light………………………………………………………………………………

If you are the one to open the door…………………………

Then prove it!

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Laura awoke, just like any other day. Of course, that day she had had a very strange dream. Door to the light? Destroyed worlds? Giant keyholes?

"I really have to lay off the late-night hot fudge…" she said to herself as she got her clothes and dressed, ready to go on the nature walk her teacher had scheduled for her class today. As she slipped into a green shirt with a white crescent on it, she contemplated what she would need on the hike. Laura grabbed a beige knapsack and filled it with a compass, a can of insect repellent, a magnifying glass, her notebook filled with descriptions and pictures of interesting people, places, things, and ideas, two pencils, and her lucky keychain. She paused when she picked up the last object. A friend of hers had given it to her two years ago, but then her friend disappeared one day. It was around the same time that her parents had gotten a divorce, so Laura had felt like her entire world was caving in on her. She studied the keychain for a moment. It was shaped like a sun and had a face. Laura smiled as she turned it over, and then nearly dropped it.

On the back of the keychain, there was something she had never seen before. It looked like a black heart with a red X through it and an upside-down Flore de Lese connected to the bottom. Laura stared at it; the strange symbol seemed to draw her in. It looked so familiar, like she had seen it somewhere else before.

She had seen it before.

Her friend had a shirt with that symbol on it; her friend that had disappeared two years ago.

Her friend, Naminè.


	2. Field Trip

Suddenly, Laura realized she was going to be late for class. She snapped out of her daydream and ran downstairs from her bedroom loft to the kitchen. She saw a piece of paper on the counter. Laura picked it up and read it

"Laura," it read, "Sorry I wasn't home. I had to leave for work for and important meeting. Your lunch is own the table and your allowance is attached to this note. Have a good time on the nature hike today!

Love Mom"

Laura turned the note over and found ten Munny attached to it. She then walked over to the table and picked up her lunch box. Then, grabbing a cereal bar out of the pantry, she dashed out the door and down the steps of her veranda house and off to where here class was meeting.

As she rushed down the road, Laura didn't see Morick, a friend from her class, walking the other way. Laura crashed into him at full speed, sending Morick flying in the other direction.

"Ow," Morick said, "Laura, you're not going to be _that_ late. I was coming by to see what was taking you so long, though."

"Oh," Laura replied as she paused to pick up Morick's glasses and hand them to him, "Sorry Morick, I've just been out of it this morning."

Morick adjusted his glasses, picked up his book, pushed his long brown hair to the side of his face and smiled.

"It's okay, Laura. Come on, Kitsune's waiting for us at school."

At the school, Laura and Morick walked over to a low-hanging tree. Leaning against it was a girl with long red hair and green eyes. She was wearing a black shirt and black jeans.

"Hey," Kitsune called out, "What took you guys so long?"

"Sorry," Laura replied, "I overslept a little…"

"That's okay, it happens to the best of us."

"Yeah," Morick said, "Then that means Laura is the greatest!"

All three of them started laughing. Suddenly Kitsune stopped laughing. Her face looked grim.

"Did you hear that another world has been destroyed?" she asked.

"No," Laura replied worriedly, "Which world was it?"

"Megrathea; luckily, nobody was there, at least that is what the government said. They were really being secretive about it."

"Didn't Megrathea make planets before the galactic economy went under?" Morick inquired.

"Yeah," Laura replied, "But they had to stop because nobody could afford them anymore. By the way, where was the keyhole?"

"I think it was in an underground chamber, near a, get this, whale skeleton." Kitsune said.

"I wonder why the Heartless haven't attacked our world yet."

"I don't know, but everyone's being paranoid about it. The government is looking for the keyhole. They tell everybody to go about their day as normal, but there are all these ships ready just in case."

"I guess they don't want the same thing to happen here that happened to Irk."

"Yeah, what with there best fighters away trying to gather information for another invasion."

"The Irken are kind of stupid. They should have learned that from the first Operation Impending Doom."

"I heard that failed because of one Irken named Zim or something," Morick butted in, "Besides, we need to be going now; our class is starting to gather."

"Hey Laura," Kitsune said, "I'll race you!"

"You're on!"

Laura and Kitsune dashed off as fast as they could with Morick jogging behind them, unaware of how their lives would be changed forever by the upcoming hike.


	3. Another World Destroyed

The nature hike was rather average: Laura's class walked through the forest on a designated nature-walking path, the teacher pointed out interesting plants and animals, Laura sketched some of what she saw, blah blah blah…

Suddenly, Laura saw something out of the corner of her eye that caught her attention. She tapped Morick and Kitsune on the back and motioned them to come with her. Quietly, they slipped away from the group and went off the path towards a strange grove that seemed to glow slightly. Suddenly, there was a flash. When it was gone, the three couldn't believe their eyes.

"It's a…" Morick started.

"No way…" Kitsune said, awed at what she saw before her.

"It is!" Laura said, and ran up to it.

It was a hole in the ground; not just any ordinary hole though. It looked like a triangle, except where the top point should have been there was a large circle connected to it. It looked like something you would stick something large in to make something else happen.

It was the keyhole to their world, Derris.

"This is big!" Morick exclaimed, "We have to tell somebody."

"No," Laura said, "It might attract to much attention of the wrong kind."

"Oh, but it has…" said a mysterious voice said from behind them. Laura, Morick and Kitsune gasped as they turned around to see a man in a black cloak. They couldn't see his head because it was covered with a black hood, which makes sense since he was wearing a black cloak.

"Yes," the man said thoughtfully, "Very good. Very good indeed."

"Who are you," Laura demanded, "And what do you want with the keyhole?"

"Oh, you want to know who I am? Fine, I will tell you. My name is Vexen, and I have been assigned to this sector of the universe. Normally, I wouldn't get ahead of schedule, but since you three have unwittingly led me to this world's keyhole…"

Vexen raised his hands, and three strange creatures appeared. They looked like blue cups, but they had that symbol on their chests.

"The Heartless!" Morick, Laura, and Kitsune all screamed at the same time.

The three creatures rushed at them at knocked them back. Laura noted that they were cold to the touch.

"Now," Vexen said with a grin on his face that no one could see because his face was covered by a hood, "Time to take this little keyhole."

Vexen pointed his right hand forward, and a blue beam shot out of it and hit the keyhole. At first, nothing happened. But suddenly, frost started to poor from the keyhole into the surrounding forest.

"No!" Laura cried. Thinking swiftly, she knocked back the Heartless that was pushing her against a tree and lunged a Vexen. He moved out of the way easily and Laura fell to the ground. Suddenly, the keyhole began to glow. A strange, sword-like object appeared above it.

"Ah, this world's Keyblade," Vexen said, "I shall be taking this."

Vexen walked towards it and then stopped.

"Wait a second," he said, "There is no keychain attached. This is useless for my research!"

Instinctively, Laura reached into her pocket and pulled out the keychain Naminè had given her. It was warm and glowed slightly. She then rushed over to the Keyblade and attached the keychain to it.

Something very strange happened then; the Keyblade changed shape and color. It took on a golden hue, the handle became circular and had spikes, and the end looked like a sunrise. Laura twirled it around and pointed the weapon directly at Vexen.

"Now," she said vehemently, "You will pay for what you have done!"

Vexen chuckled, "I think not, my dear girl, because I have a way out." And with that he opened a dark portal and stepped through.

"Ta ta!" he said and laughed some more, closing the portal behind him.

"Hey!" Kitsune yelled, "The world is still breaking up!"

"Let me see if I can reverse it." Laura replied. She then aimed her new Keyblade directly at the keyhole, but nothing happened except for the darkness that was continuing to pour out of it.

"It's no use!" Laura cried.

Suddenly, darkness enveloped them. Laura, Morick, and Kitsune seemed to be falling through an infinite abyss. Laura couldn't see anything in any direction, not even her friends. Suddenly, she stopped falling. Laura looked around. She seemed to be on a platform made out of stained glass. The platform formed a picture of a woman in a pink dress. Above her head was a yellow triangle that seemed to be made out of three triangles with a hole in the center.

Suddenly, she heard a voice seeming to come from inside her mind. It was the same voice she had heard in her dream.

"Step forward," it said, "Do not be afraid of your destiny."

Laura cautiously took a few steps forward. Suddenly, three doors appeared.

"Your journey has taken you to crossroads," the voice said, "You must choose whether to follow the path of the warrior, the mystic, or the defender."

Laura noticed that over the first door, there was a sword. Over the second door there was a staff. The third door had a shield.

"Hmm…" Laura thought, "Morick is better a magic than I could ever be, and Kitsune's tougher than she looks. I guess I should go through door number three."

As Laura stepped up to the shield door, the voice said, "You choose the path of the defender, protector of good. Do you wish to journey through this door?"

Laura wasn't sure what to do, so she just nodded in agreement. The two other doors disappeared and the third door opened to reveal a staircase leading up from the platform she was one. Laura hesitated for a moment; it looked rather precarious without a railing, but then she steeled herself and started up it.

"Besides," she said to herself, "Morick and Kitsune could be up there."

When Laura got to the top of the staircase, she found her self on another stained glass platform, this one with a picture of a girl in white robes with a purple ribbon in her blonde hair playing an ocarina. Laura turned around to find the staircase had vanished. In fact, there was no sign of the previous platform at all.

"There are times when you will have to fight," the voice said again and nearly startled Laura, "To protect you and your loved ones."

Suddenly, a strange creature appeared in front of her.

"The Heartless…" Laura hissed.

"Keep your light burning strong." The voice said and then faded out.

The creature leaped right at Laura. Before she could even think, she slashed at the creature with her Keyblade. It fell backwards at then dissipated, leaving behind only a few green orbs. Laura picked one up; it disappeared, and Laura felt a little better.

Suddenly, more Heartless appeared around Laura. She reached for her Keyblade and started slashing away, destroying all of the Heartless.

"It's not very subtle," Laura thought to herself, "But it's effective."

After that, a light appeared next to the platform she was standing on. Laura walked over to it. When she stood on it, it swiftly ascended to another platform. This one had a picture of a girl with pink hair holding some sort of sword.

"But the light can betray you," the voice seemed to whisper, "For the closer get to the light, the bigger your shadow becomes."

Laura turned around, and to her dismay, her shadow was growing to disproportionate measures. It took on grotesque and monstrous features.

"If you are the one," the voice continued as the shadow grew, "To open the door," the shadow started to rise and take three-dimensional aspects, "Then you must learn," the shadow became even more monstrous, "That your greatest enemy," the shadow was now ten feet high and looking down at Laura, "Is yourself." The shadow's hand started to reach for Laura. She deftly jumped out of the way and thought, "Is this what my dark side looks like? I never knew it was in my heart all along…" She didn't have much more time to think, though as her "Darkside" slammed its right hand directly at her. Laura quickly flipped out of the way and slashed at the hand. The Darkside roared in pain and then knelt down as if wounded badly. Suddenly, Laura noticed something she hadn't noticed before. Where its heart should have been was a heart-shaped hole.

"I wonder…" Laura thought, and she raised her Keyblade to Darkside's empty heart. Her Keyblade started to glow, and then it shot a beam of light right at Darkside. Darkside roared and then crashed into the ground, cracking the platform.

Laura noticed a door to the side. She tried to run towards it, but then stopped when the part of the platform the door was on crumbled away.

"Your Keyblade is Bano del Sol," the voice said, seemingly unaware of what was happening, "But it is not a powerful as the true key. You must aid the Key Master, but you will never cross paths with him."

"How can I help him if I never meet him!" Laura cried out, but there was no answer. The rest of the platform crumbled and Laura fell into the abyss screaming, but she could faintly hear "All will be revealed in time when you open the door…"


	4. The Moonlands

"Hey, are you all right?" a voice asked.

Laura groaned, and then realized she wasn't falling anymore. She opened her eyes and found herself in a strange forest she had never seen before.

"Good, you're awake." A strange boy Laura had also never seen before said. He had blonde hair, green eyes, and was wearing what seemed to be clothing made entirely out of leaves, grass, and vines. He was also carrying some sort of staff.

"Who are you?" Laura asked, "And where am I?"

The boy laughed, "You're not from around hear, are you? My name's Yaki, and you're in Naroom."

"Where's Naroom? I've never heard of it before."

"Why, on the Moonlands, of course!"

"Moonlands? I've never-" Laura paused for a second, and then said, "Oh, I get it. After that place was destroyed, I fell here."

"Huh?" Yaki replied confusedly, "You mean Arderial? That would be a long ways to fall."

"No, my home world, Derris."

"Your home world?"

"Yes, this must be a different world."

Yaki paused for a second, then he said, "I think I should take you to the village. Orwin should know what you are talking about."

Yaki started walking and motioned for Laura to come. Laura stood up and took a few uneasy steps before following Yaki to his village.

"Before we get there," Yaki said, "I should tell you a few things about the Moonlands. The people here are called Magi, and we Magi have special powers. For one, we can twist special material called Animite into creatures summoned from the dream realm. We also know a lot of spells."  
"I see…" Laura responded, though in truth, she was a little lost. Suddenly, she spied a village ahead. All the houses seemed to be made out of vines, but the people were far from primitive. She saw a man typing on a laptop computer and a girl playing a handheld video game. One other thing she noticed in common with all of them is that they wore rings; some had many and some had few and some had only one, but they all wore some quantity of rings.

"We have arrived in Vash Naroom," Yaki stated, "Orwin's house is over that way." He pointed towards a hut much larger than any of the others.

Yaki lead Laura to the hut, and then he knocked on the door. It creaked open revealing a man that seemed to be ancient, but still had vigor.

"Orwin, sir," Yaki said humbly with his head bowed, "This girl says she is from another world. I found her unconscious outside the village."

"I see," Orwin said sagely, "And what world are you from, girl?"

"Derris, sir," Laura replied, "And my name is Laura."

"Well, Laura, you are welcome to stay here for a little while until you can get back to your own world. Now, you should see Pruitt about getting a ring."

"Umm…what are rings for?"

Orwin smiled and said, "You really aren't from this world are you? Rings contain the power of Animite for summoning Dream Creatures. Most of the time, people make rings to summon a type of creature that already exists and is running around somewhere in the Moonlands, but once in a while someone dreams up a new one. Not only are Dream Creatures helpful in doing work, but many people create lasting bonds with their creatures."

"Okay, where is Pruitt?"

"She is in the house next to mine."

"Okay, thank you."

"You are welcome."

Laura and Yaki exited Orwin's hut and walked to a hut nearby that was decorated with flowers of every type. Over the door was a sign that said "Ringsmith" and was decorated with elaborate designs of flowers. Laura knocked at the door.

"It's open!" a delicate voice from inside said. Laura opened the door to find a blonde-headed girl with hazel eyes tinkering with a ring and what looked like a piece of yellow grass. Next to her was a counter with a multitude of rings of different sizes and colors.

The girl looked up. "Hello Yaki and…um…friend of Yaki," she said pleasantly, "What can I do for you?"

"This is Laura," Yaki replied gesturing to the girl, "She lost her world and will be staying here for a while. I was wondering if you could hook her up with a Dream Creature."

"Oh, okay." Pruitt turned to Laura and said soberly, "I'm sorry that your world was destroyed. I think I have just the ring for you since you might be here for a while. It's the one I'm working on. For some reason, I can't fuse this last piece of Animite into it."

"May I see it?" Laura inquired, taking a step towards her.

"I guess so," Pruitt replied uncertainly, "But I don't see what you could-"

Pruitt stopped because she couldn't believe her eyes. Laura had simply touched the Animite and it had slid effortlessly into the ring. The ring glowed for a moment before turning a light-green color.

"Wow…" Pruitt commented, amazed at what had just happened. Suddenly, she snapped out of it and said cheerily, "Thanks, you can have that one. It contains a new kind of Dream Creature. I found the Animite after a meteor shower and I've been experimenting with it, but to no avail, so even I don't know what that ring will summon."

"Well," Laura replied, slipping the ring onto her left index finger, "Let's try it out."

Laura held her left hand up and concentrated. There was a small glow, but nothing else. Laura concentrated harder. She felt energy pulsating from her to the ring. The glow was growing larger and larger. Suddenly, there was a flash. Laura opened her eyes to find a creature that looked like a fox with eight tails made out of wood. Its ears were leaves and so were the tips of its tails. It stared at Laura a moment before walking up to her and rubbing on her ankles.

"Hey, little guy," Laura said, smiling, "What's your name?"

"I don't know." It replied, making Laura jump back.

"He's the first of his type," Pruitt said informingly, "So you should name him."

"Okay, your name shall be…Keon!"

The Keon looked up at Laura and smiled, sort of…


	5. Some Random Food

"So, where should we go next?" Laura asked as she and Yaki walked out of Pruitt's store.

"Well," Yaki replied, "Are you hungry?"

Laura paused for a moment and heard her stomach rumbling. "Yes." She replied.

"Great! I know where we can get something really good to eat!"

Yaki led Laura to a building near the other side of the village. Above the door was a sign that said "Inn-Vacancies". Yaki and Laura walked in to find a man who was very short but was holding a staff much taller than him. He had brown hair and was wearing red and green clothing and a matching headband.

"Laura, this is my good friend Poad. He runs the Vash Naroom Inn, and he is also one of the Moonlands' best cooks!"

"Thank you, Yaki," the short one replied, "Hello, pleased to meet you, Laura. What region are you from?"

"Umm…" Laura started to say.

"She's not from the Moonlands," Yaki said swiftly, saving Laura from saying anything embarrassing, "She lost her home world, so she'll be staying here for a while. Anyway, we're starving. How about you cook something up for us?"

"Splendid idea! I'll make some Weebo soup! It's delicious!"

Poad waddled out of the room and into what Laura presumed was the kitchen. Laura then turned to Yaki and asked, "Umm, Yaki, what's Weebo soup?"

"It's like mushroom soup, except we use Weebos. Weebos are a type of Dream Creature that looks like an orange mushroom."

"But, that's mean to summon one just to kill it!"

Yaki seemed to be holding back a giggle. Laura realized that there was something she didn't know.

"There's something you're not telling me, isn't there?" she inquired impatiently.

"Yes," Yaki replied with a smile, "Yes there is. When Dream Creatures are destroyed, they disappear. Weebo soup has regular mushrooms in it, but a Weebo is put into the soup for a little bit so the soup absorbs the flavor. Weebos don't feel temperature, so it doesn't hurt them. When enough flavor is absorbed, The Weebo is taken out and either unsummoned or used to help serve the dish."

Just then, Poad walked out of the kitchen followed by a walking orange mushroom balancing a tray with three bowls of delicious-smelling soup on its head.

"Weebo soup's on!" said Poad, passing out a bowl to each of them. Laura looked at it uncertainly at first, then she dipped some onto her spoon and tasted it.

"It's delicious!" she exclaimed. Poad and Yaki nodded and started to eat their soup as well. Soon they had all finished and had seconds as well.

Later that night, Yaki and Laura were sitting on a hill near Vash Naroom looking up at the stars.

"They're beautiful…" Laura commented.

"Yeah," Yaki replied, "Where was your world?"

"Umm…I think it was over there." Laura pointed to part of the sky that had a constellation that seemed to be missing a star. Actually, many of the constellations were missing stars.

"I hope all of the worlds are restored soon…" Laura whispered.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine. In fact, I think-"

"Yaki!" a voice called out that Laura was unfamiliar with. Just then a girl with long red hair wearing green robes walked up the hill. She was carrying a staff with a blue crystal in the center.

"I've been looking for you all day," she said, "Where have you been?"

"Oh, hello Tryn," Yaki replied nonchalantly, "Sorry, I've been showing Laura around Vash Naroom. She's new here."

"Oh. Hello Laura, my name is Tryn, Daughter of Runes, but you can call me Tryn."

"Hi Tryn," Laura replied, "Nice to meet you."

"Hey Yaki, I need you to come with me tomorrow to check out some ruins I found near the border of Naroom and the Weave."

"Okay, great. May Laura come to?"

"I don't see why not. It should be fun."

"Okay, see you then."

"Goodbye!" and with that, Tryn walked away.

"Tryn seems nice." Laura commented optimistically.

"Yeah…" Yaki replied dreamily.

"Why is she called Daughter of Runes?"

"Huh? Oh. I don't know, but she's in charge of deciphering any runes found at ruins and places like that."

"I see…" Laura said, but she really didn't. Yaki seemed to zone out for a little bit. Suddenly, he snapped awake and said, "We need to get back. Tomorrow's going to be a big day. I have a spare room at my house you can stay in."

"Okay, that's great."

Laura followed Yaki back to his house. It looked small on the outside, but it was larger on the inside. Yaki showed her to a room in the back with a bed and some other furnishings. Laura was so tired, she fell asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow made out of grass.


	6. A Ruins Exploration

The next day, Laura and Yaki exited Vash Naroom and headed for the ruins Tryn spoke of. Tryn had already left, but Yaki had a map. After about thirty good minutes of walking, the two finally arrived at the ruins.

The ruins looked like a large stone maze with cryptic inscriptions on the walls. Here and there, pieces were decaying or covered with moss.

"Tryn must have already gone inside," Yaki commented, "Before we go in though, I should give you this."

Yaki pointed his staff and Laura. Laura felt a strange sensation inside of her.

"What was that?" Laura inquired bemusedly.

"There are some unfriendly Dream Creatures out there," Yaki replied, "I just gave you a Leaf Cut spell, so you can better protect yourself."

"Thanks."

"Let's go in, shall we?"

Laura and Yaki walked into the ruins, searching for Tryn. Soon they found her studying some glyphs on a nearby wall.

"Hey Tryn." Yaki called out.

"Oh hello Yaki and Laura," Tryn replied, standing up and facing them, "You won't believe some of the things I've deciphered from these ruins. Apparently, this place was sacred ground to the ancients. They built this maze to protect what they call 'The Heart'. It's pretty extensive, and 'The Heart' apparently is at the center of the maze."

"Well let's get looking for it then!" Laura said excitedly. She had never been on an archaeological expedition before, and this was fun to her. Tryn shrugged and started to walk with Laura and Yaki down another path.

After a little bit, it was quite apparent that the trio was completely lost.

"Maybe we should go back…" Laura said nervously.

"No way," Yaki replied, "We came too far. The center has to be around here somewhere."

Suddenly, Tryn shrieked. Laura and Yaki turned around to see a Shadow materialize behind them. It growled at them a second before lunging.

"I'll take care of this!" Laura said and stepped up to it. She then paused, turned to Yaki and asked, "Umm, how do you do that Leaf Cut spell again?"

"Concentrate." Yaki replied.

Laura turned back to the Heartless, which now was only a few centimeters away from her. She pointed her Keyblade, Bano del Sol, directly at it and concentrated. Suddenly, a leaf shot out of her weapon and sliced the Shadow in half. It shrieked, and then disappeared.

"Wow…" Laura said, amazed at what had just happened.

"I wonder why there are Heartless in the ruins anyway." Tryn said aloud.

Suddenly, ten Heartless appeared around them.

"Let's not stay here long enough to find out why!" Yaki said. He then touched one of his rings and concentrated. A large white dog with antlers materialized and went over to Yaki. He petted it and then said, "Come on, get on!"

Tryn and Laura scrambled over to the creature and got on with Yaki. Yaki then touched one of the dog's antlers. It put its head down, and charged, knocking out three of the Heartless in the process.

"Yeehaw!" Yaki cried as the raced through the maze at a breakneck pace. At first, Laura was holding on for her life, but then she found it was rather easy to sit up and simply hold on to one of the creature's antlers.

Suddenly, the creature stopped. All three fell off.

"Ow. What happened?" Laura asked, then she noticed Tryn and Yaki staring.  
"We're at the center of the maze," Tryn commented breathlessly, "Look!"

Tryn pointed towards the wall. On it was a keyhole, but not just any keyhole.

It was the keyhole to the Moonlands.

"Wow…" Yaki said, amazed at what was in front of him.

"I better seal it." Laura said. She then held up her Keyblade and concentrated. A beam shot out from it and pierced the keyhole. It then disappeared. Suddenly, there was a rumbling noise.

"I better go check that out Tryn said, and walked out of side past a corner. All of a sudden there was a scream. Laura and Yaki dashed off to find Tryn being pulled into a portal by the Heartless.

"Tryn!" Yaki yelled, but it was too late; the portal had closed and the Heartless were gone.

"It's to late," Laura said grimly, "There's nothing we can do."

Yaki was still hysterical and yelling for no reason, when Laura noticed Tryn's notebook on the ground.

"It looks like she dropped this." Laura said and picked it up. Inside, there were translations to several of the inscriptions from the walls. One in particular caught Laura's interest.

"Hey Yaki," she said. Yaki finally calmed down, "Listen to this," she continued.

The page read, "Rough Translation: 'The eight neo-princesses of heart shall light the way to a new dimension of comprehension. Although on different worlds, the neo-princesses can be united through the Darkness. Although they are not all princesses of royalty, they are princesses of purity.

One rules her kingdom with kindness and grace.

One has the power of Three.

One can heal all through magic.

One has mysterious powers.

One is courageous and fights for what she believes in.

One summons aid to protect the light.

One controls the wind.

One is the Daughter of Runes.

Together, they shall open the door to the Heavens, and we shall all obtain perfect knowledge of new worlds to be discovered.'"

Laura paused for a moment. Then she said, "Hey, isn't Tryn called Daughter of Runes?"

Yaki turned away from Laura, deep in thought, "Yes," he replied, "But, a princess?"

"Neo-princess, actually," Laura reminded him, "I guess it could be possible."

"I guess so. She did have a pretty mysterious past. As for the others, I don't know anyone who fits those descriptions except for broad assumptions. All Magi can summon creatures, we Naroom Magi heal creatures usually, but I know a Cald Magi who is a healer. It's a guy, though, so he wouldn't be a neo-princess of heart. All Arderial Magi can control the wind, and plenty of Magi are enigmatic or courageous. I guess they're on different worlds. Either way, we have to get Tryn back!"

Laura nodded in agreement, "Yes, but how? I got here when my world was destroyed, and we don't have any means of transportation really."

Yaki thought for a moment.

Laura thought for a moment.

They both thought for a moment.

It really wasn't apparent what happened next, as it happened rather suddenly.

It started with a scream from the sky.

Laura and Yaki looked up to the source of the scream. They saw something rushing up towards them.

The object hit them on its way to the ground.


	7. Meeting Blinx

"Oww…" Laura said, picking herself off the ground.

"What happened?" Yaki asked, standing up unsteadily.

"I don't know…" a third voice said.

Laura and Yaki jumped. It was then when they noticed what had hit them.

It was about five feet tall, wearing blue clothing, a green scarf, and goggles. Attached to its back was what looked like a vacuum cleaner with an analog clock in it. It was covered in orange fur. Its head was sort of ovalish. It had long pointed ears and narrow green eyes.

"Ahh!" Laura screamed, "A talking cat-thing!"

"Hey!" the cat exclaimed, very annoyed, "I just landed here, you know!"

"Oh, sorry. Umm…what happened?"

"That's what I would like to know! I was just doing my job as a Time Sweeper, when I rewound this building to get inside. In the building was a gigantic keyhole! Suddenly, this little black creature runs over and jumps inside it. The next thing I know, I'm falling and land here!"

"Oh, then your world must have been destroyed too."

"What?" the cat seemed very confused.

"You see," Laura began, "That keyhole led to the heart of your world. That creature was a Heartless. The Heartless seek the hearts of the worlds so they can destroy them. I don't know what they use the hearts for, but it's what happens. Anyway, when your world was destroyed, your heart must have been strong enough to survive, and, well, you landed here."

"I guess so. Anyway, I'm being rude. My name's Blinx. What's yours?"

"My name's Laura."

"My name's Yaki," Yaki said, who had been quiet up to this point.

"By the way," said Laura, "What's a Time Sweeper?"

Blinx blinked, "I really am on a different world! A Time Sweeper is a job of high esteem on my world. Time Sweepers help preserve the timeline from these strange beings that can travel through time and mess things up. Time Sweeper also refers to this."

Blinx pulled the strange vacuum cleaner thingy off his back and showed it to them.

"This is my Time Sweeper," he said proudly, "If can suck up items five times its weight, and it has some of the best temporal capabilities around."

"I see," Laura said, "Very nice. Hey, I have an idea. Why don't you come with us? Yaki and I are trying to find our friends. My world was destroyed too and I want to see if my friends Morick and Kitsune are okay, and Yaki just lost one of his friends to the Heartless and he wants to find her again. Maybe your friends are out there somewhere."

"Maybe…" Blinx said doubtingly, "Okay, I will!"

"We can be a Trinity! Laura, Yaki, and Blinx! Fighting the darkness one world at a time!"

"There's still one problem," Yaki said, "We don't have a ship."

"That's okay," Blinx said, "I've noticed more and more rifts in the space-time continuum. I can use my Time Sweeper to open them, and they should lead to different worlds."

"That's a great idea Blinx!" Laura said. She was very excited that for once in her life she could make a difference.

"Yes, in fact, my Sweeper's detecting a rift right around here."

"Okay. Wait! Before we go, we should make some sort of sign."

"Why?"

"Because it's cool."

Laura, Yaki, and Blinx all held out their weapons and touched their ends together, a sure sign they would be going on a grand adventure of some cheese-flavored sort.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Do they realize it yet?"

"Not a chance."

Several people laughed evilly. They were watching the trio through a crystal ball.

"It's a shame, though," one voice said, "That we'll have to eliminate them. They're quite amusing." He held out his sword. It was made of some sort of crystal. "I'll take care of one of them myself after I find that troublesome girl."

"You and your talk, Llednar," another voice said, "After I finally get the Triforce, I'll destroy them personally."

"You're both wrong," a third voice said, "I'll do it, and I'll do it by burning their world. It's a shame Violet wasn't a neo-princess. Oh, well; one less brat to deal with after this is over."

The group of assembled villains laughed some more until they started to cough and choke.


	8. Puns and Princesses

"Okay, so are we ready to go?" Laura asked. She was getting impatient. Blinx had been fiddling with his Time Sweeper for the past hour and it was starting to get annoying. She really wanted to see some other worlds, even if it did involve extradimensional rifts.

"Almost, I just need to adjust one more thing in the space-time equilibrium formula." Blinx adjusted the minute had on his Time Sweeper. He then pressed a green button. There was a flash. A hole seemed to open in thin air. It showed a picture of an unfamiliar place. There was a picture of a castle with a grove of fruit trees.

"So, we just jump in?" Yaki inquired.

"Basically, yes." Blinx replied.

Laura walked up to the portal and touched it with her finger. The picture rippled a bit. Laura withdrew her finger and the wavering stopped. Laura took a few steps backward and ran and jumped into the picture.

"Wait!" Blinx cried, "The portal's still volatile and it's not-"

"Forget it," Yaki said, "She's already gone.

Blinx sighed, "I guess we'll go too then."

Yaki and Blinx stepped into the portal and were instantly sucked into the darkness.

Laura felt a sickening sensation. Suddenly she was pulled out of the rift and fell to the ground of the new world. She groaned, then she stood up and looked around at her new surroundings.

There was the castle and the fruit trees, but some of them twitched on their own volition. Off to the side was a graveyard, but the graves looked strange, as if something had risen out of them and then gone back in multiple times. She then gasped; some of the trees had pies on them! Some other trees had shoes, pants, hats and various other articles of clothing on their branches. Laura walked up to one to see why someone would put pies on a tree, but on close examination it was obvious that the pies were actually growing on the tree.

"This is strange…" she thought aloud.

Suddenly, she heard a "pop", and standing behind her were Yaki and Blinx, looking disoriented.

"Where are we?" Yaki asked, noting the pies and clothing.

"I don't know," Blinx said, "But according to my Time Sweeper, this place has a high level of magic and its connected directly to another world."

"Well," Laura said, "Wherever we are, it's sure to be a fun adventure."

"Why do you say that?" Yaki inquired.

"I don't know, it seemed like the right thing to say. There's something about this place that makes me feel…optimistic."

"Maybe we should try to find someone to help us out."

"That's a good idea," Blinx said, "But remember, we can't let on we're from different worlds."

Yaki had filled Blinx in earlier about the Moonlands and different worlds in the like; he was a quick learner.

"Right," Laura said, "Hey, I think I see a house over their near the castle."

Laura, Yaki, and Blinx walked over to the house. It was yellow-white in color. When they got close, they realized it smelled a little like cheese.

Laura shrugged, then she knocked on the door.

The door opened to reveal a very old man. He seemed friendly enough, though.

"Why, hello." He said warmly.

"Umm, hi," Laura responded, "We're kind of lost, could you please tell me where we are?"

The man frowned.

"You mean you don't know? This is Castle Roogna, the human capital of Xanth."

"Xanth? As in the yellow chemical?" Blinx inquired.

The man frowned again, "Normally, I'd guess you would be from Mundania, but I don't think they have humanoid talking cats there. Hmm…"

"So the name of this world is Xanth?" Laura asked, but then covered her mouth in realization.

"So you're from another world?" the man asked.

"Wait," Yaki said puzzled, "You know about different worlds?"

"Of course!" he replied, "Plenty of people from other worlds come to Xanth, although most of them are from Mundania or Ida's moons. Anyway, my name is Bink. Please, do come in!"

Bink moved out of the way, and Laura, Yaki, and Blinx stepped inside.

The inside of the house was pleasantly decorated, but it still smelled a bit like cheese.

"Umm…Bink?" Laura asked, "Why were there pies growing on some of those trees?"

"Why, those are pie trees!" he replied and laughed. Laura wasn't sure what was so funny.

"And the shoes?"

"Those are shoe trees!" Bink laughed again.

"If I ask about the smell of this house," Blinx piped up, "You're going to say something strange and laugh again, aren't you?"

"You bet. This is a cottage cheese!" Bink laughed again.

"Cottage cheese? Oh, it's a pun!" Laura was starting to get the hang of it, but it was still annoying.

"Yep. Xanth is built on puns. It makes things better."

"Who's there?" a female voice called from the other room.

"Oh yes," Bink said, "Chameleon, there are three people here from another world."

An elderly woman with a kind smile walked into the living room holding a plate of cookies.

"Oh, hello dears," she said warmly, "My name is Chameleon. Even though we were supposed to fade away a while a go, Bink and I were put in charge of diplomatic affairs with other worlds."

"Hello," Laura replied, "My name is Laura, and these two are Yaki and Blinx."

"Yes. Now, would you three like a cookie?"

Laura, Yaki, and Blinx all nodded and Chameleon handed each of them a pinwheel- shaped cookie. They were delicious.

"Thank you," Laura said, "It was delicious!"

"I'm glad you liked them. Now, to get to business."

Chameleon suddenly looked serious. So did Bink.

"How did you come here?" Bink asked.

"We traveled here through a rift in the space-time continuum," Blinx said, "We came from the Moonlands, well Yaki did anyway. Laura and I are from two different worlds. When our worlds were destroyed, we ended up in the Moonlands."

"I see," Bink said thoughtfully, "And why are you here?"

"We're trying to find our friends," Laura said. She then pulled out her Keyblade and added, "And defeat the darkness."

The old couple stared at her for a moment.

"Yes, the Keyblade." Chameleon said.

"Please," Bink added, "Follow us."

Bink and Chameleon stood up and exited the house of cheese. Laura, Yaki, and Blinx followed.

Soon they came to the Castle Roogna. As they walked over the bridge, a giant serpent rose out of the water.

"It's okay, Soufflé," Chameleon said soothingly, "It's just us and some world travelers."

Soufflé nodded and sunk back into the moat. Laura realized that this castle must have a lot of hidden defenses like that.

As they entered the castle, three little girls wearing crowns ran up to them.

"Hey!" the first one said. She was wearing a green dress and had blonde hair with a tint of green.

"New people!" the second one said. She had a red dress and had brown hair.

"Are they from a different world?" the third one asked. She was wearing a little brown dress and was holding a toy drum.

"Ah yes," Chameleon said, "These are the princesses Melody, Harmony, and Rhythm. They're quite precocious, being five years old."

The three princesses blushed.

"Come on!" Melody said.

"You must be here for the keyhole!" Harmony said.

"We saw it all on the tapestry." Rhythm added.

Melody, Harmony, and Rhythm started to run up a flight of stairs.

"We'll wait here," Bink said, "You three go along now. They might be young, but they know what they're doing."

Laura nodded and the trio then followed the little princesses up the stairs. They came to a stop outside a door with a plaque that read "Princess Ida".

"Auntie Ida is in here." Melody said.

"She can help." Harmony commented.

"She has powers." Rhythm finished. Laura started to wonder what they would do when they got older and split apart. They would have to actually create a whole idea without help.

Melody knocked on the door.

"Enter…" a voice inside said sadly.

Harmony opened the door to reveal a woman who looked very sad.

"What's wrong, Aunt Ida?" Rhythm asked.

"It's Ptero," Ida began sadly, "It just disappeared!"

Ida started to cry. The three princesses gasped.

"What's going on here?" Another woman asked as she walked into the room.

Ida gazed at the woman unhappily. Laura still had no idea what was going on.

"My moon has disappeared." She started crying again.

"Oh my," the woman said, "What happened?"

"Well, I was just sitting here, thinking, when all of a sudden it just disappeared!"

"Umm," Laura began, but that was as far as she got, for suddenly, a shadow appeared in the room.

"Eeeeeekk!" the three princesses cried in unison, getting an extra "k" into it in the process. Laura swiped at it with her Keyblade, and it vanished leaving behind a green orb and some Munny.

"What was that," the woman asked, "And who are you three?"

"These are Laura," Melody began.

"Yaki," Harmony added.

"And Blinx." Rhythm finished.

"Hello." Laura said.

"Why hello, Laura, Yaki, and Blinx," the woman replied. Laura noticed her hair was twinged with green, "My name is princess Ivy. Pleased to meet you."

Laura was confounded with the amount of princesses about; it was just rather odd.

"They're from different worlds," Melody said.

"Three different ones," Harmony continued.

"Two of them were destroyed." Rhythm concluded.

"How did you-" Laura began.

"We know lots about you," Melody said.

"It's part of our magic," Harmony said.

"We can do anything." Rhythm finished.

The three little princesses then giggled. They didn't seem the least bit perturbed about the Heartless.

Laura turned to Yaki and Blinx; they just shrugged.

Laura turned to Ida. "What was Ptero?" she asked.

"Ptero," Ida began, "Was my moon. On it existed all the people that do exist, did exist, and might exist. There's a version me there with another moon named Pyramid. On Pyramid is another me with a moon called Cone, then it gets confusing with Taurus, Dumbbell, Pincushion, Spaghetti, Fractal, Motes, Tesseract, Zombie, and all the others. As far as anyone can tell, there are an infinite number of Idas, each with her own moon."

"Hmm…" Laura said thoughtfully, "So each of your moons are like worlds?"

"You could say that."

"If each moon is a world, then each one has a keyhole, and then-"

Laura snapped her fingers.

"The Heartless!" she, Yaki, and Blinx said at the same time.

Ida looked confused for a moment. "Are you trying to say that the Heartless found the keyhole to Ptero?"

"It's a possibility," Laura replied, "If there is another you with another world, and so on and so forth, then if the Heartless destroy Ptero, they just succeeded in destroying hundreds-maybe thousands-of different worlds in the process."

Ida was shocked. "I never thought of it before," she said, "How can we get them back?"

Laura turned to Yaki and Blinx, who once again simply shrugged.

"Maybe you should come with me." Ivy said, and left the room. The group-which now included the three princesses and Ida-followed. Soon they came to a large throne room where a regal-looking man and woman sat. The man had long white hair, dark eyes, was dressed in robes, and had a crown on his head. The woman had long dark hair that seemed green, green eyes, a green robe, and a crown as well. Laura also noticed a cat underneath the woman's throne.

"May I help you Ivy?" the woman inquired politely.


End file.
